The blog of the JRN 320 multimedia newsroom course at Stony Brook University.

Why I Chose Journalism

I’ve been writing for quite some time. From pencil and paper to endless stacks of printer paper littered with text, writing has always been something that helped me pass the time. I wrote stories, opinions and personal essays so often that writing became ingrained into my system.

I remember an assignment in my AP English class in which the class was asked to write an original epic a la “Beowulf” with a three-page minimum and a five-page maximum. As I wrote it, I had to approach my teacher to ask him if I was allowed to go over the limit; the story I was writing and the plot I had in mind literally could not be contained in five pages. He allowed it, leading me to hand in a 20-page story that probably went un-read yet nabbed me 100 points.

I knew that I wanted to something with writing. Journalism seemed like the perfect way to channel that hobby. With a wide variety of journalism to spread my wings, this field seems rather acceptable.